Opening Their Heart and Home to Foster Kids with Special Needs
A typical day at the Morales home starts early. Husband and wife team Milton and Bertha Morales wake at 5:30 a.m. to prepare for a day that includes caring for eight children, six of them with special medical needs ranging in age from 5 to 15. Three are foster children ages 5, 8, 13, 15 and they have legal guardianship over, three more who are 13, 14, and 15. Two are the couple’s biological children, ages 10 and 13.
After the children are woken, washed, fed, given medication and shuttled off to school, there is still no time to relax. There is still laundry to be done and grocery shopping. Doctors appointments fill some days. The children have ailments including mental retardation, cerebral palsy, hearing lost, gastrostomy tube dependents for nutrition needs, uncontrolled bowel movements, and non-ambulatory. When all of the children arrive home in the late afternoon, there is some time for play, then it’s dinner and tucking them into bed. After everyone is asleep, Bertha and Milton begin preparing for the next day. At around 1 a.m., Bertha gets up to check on the kids while they sleep.
The extraordinary devotion of these foster parents is evident in the way the children lovingly react to them and the way they interact with the children with lots of hugs and attention. Their Compton home is sparse but spotless with brightly decorated bedrooms for the children. Milton had to add on four bedrooms to accommodate their growing number of medically fragile foster children they decided to care for. You have to be organized to handle this many children, notes Milton.
Originally from El Salvador, Bertha and Milton have numerous years of experience caring for children with special needs. Before they met and married 15 years ago, Bertha worked in a facility caring for medically fragile children. Before getting married, they discussed caring for special needs kids as part of their life together. Their two biological children help out.
“They’ve grown up with these children, so they’re used to it,” said Milton. Still, it’s hard for them to let go when the kids are adopted or reunited with their parents, something Bertha and Milton help facilitate by hosting many birth mothers for visits in their home. The Morales family has considered adopting the foster children they care for, but believe they can help more children by serving as foster parents.
Recently, an adoptive match was found for a 5-year-old medically fragile foster child under their care. “It will be hard to let her go,” said Milton. “But when they leave our home, we know it’s for an even brighter future.”
The biggest challenge for the Morales’ family has been dealing with the loss of a child in their care due to medical complications, but they march onward. Both Milton and Bertha say they plan on taking care of medically fragile children as long as they can.
“It’s hard,” says Milton, his eyes welling with tears. “You have feelings for these children. But if you let your emotions control you too much, you can’t care for the others who need you.”
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